The Yahnhee Of Nular
by DeathDragon921
Summary: With Saint Dane gone, Halla is thought to never change again. But there are more Hallas, monitored by the influencing Yahnhee, which have other plans for Halla. This story explains all about them and what happens to each territory.


Journal #38

Nular

OK, so a bunch of stuff has happened between the beginning of this journal and now. Too much to comprehend. Harder to understand than Solara.

It began shortly after Saint Dane died. The demon Traveler was dead. And all the Travelers returned to Solara. I stayed.

To make sense of it all, I think I should start with the end of Journal #37.

You know," I said to Uncle Press on the Ravinian star, "I'm okay with things. Mostly. I don't regret having gone with you that night and making the sacrifices and fighting a battle I never asked for. I get it. I understand why we were created the way we were, and were given lives, and became part of our own territories. It all makes sense."

"But?" Uncle Press asked.

"But it doesn't seem fair. We all went to war for what we learned to love on our home territories. That's what drove us. You know that. It's why we were prepared the way we were. We were defined by our lives. We loved our homes. We loved them so much that we were willing to leave it all behind to protect them. And what are we getting in return? We lose the very lives we fought so hard to save." I shrugged sadly. "I get it, but it just doesn't seem fair."

"Bobby Pendragon will always be part of you," he said.

"I guess. But he's a guy whose life ended at fourteen years of age, just before the biggest basketball game of his life. He'll never know how that game would have come out. Or if Courtney really liked him. Or a million other things. Kind of sad, don't you think?"

Uncle Press frowned. He started to speak, but stopped. He was the guy who had all the answers. But not this one. "You're right," he said sadly. "It isn't fair."

I nodded, happy that I had at least told him how I felt. "It's weird," I added. "After jumping around through so many centuries, my only wish is that we had a little more time." I left Uncle Press standing alone on the star.

But as I did, a cave appeared in a mountain right ahead of me.

Uncle Press and I looked into it. It seemed to be a flume.

"A flume?" I asked.

"Impossible," Press replied. "All 7 worlds no longer have flumes. Saint Dane is gone. It is impossible, unless…"

"Unless what?" I asked.

"There is more to Halla than 7 worlds."

The flume then came to life. I've seen it before multiple times. The rock melted to reveal crystal. Musical notes and light came up from another territory. Carrying a note.

The note said, "Pendragon, Loor, Aja Killian, Spader, Gunny, Siry Remudi, Elli Winter, Kasha, Alder, Patrick Mac, thank you for getting rid of Saint Dane. Nular planned it from the beginning, but the demon went too far in the subdivision called Halla. The Yahnee of Nular created Solara to take Halla. There is a Solara-like plane for every Halla-like plane, created by Nular. We tried to use you, but this Solara was weird. You guys didn't share our visions. You all went rouge. Saint Dane worked with us some, but got stopped by his own greed. Halla almost died because of us Yahnee. Signed, Xen."

"What do we do," I asked.

"Only 1 thing we can do," Uncle Press replied. He then walked into the flume and said, "Nular."

The flume came to life, except the notes, like when they came, were in a different octave. This flume bent the laws of Halla, the laws of Saint Dane.

And yet we were traveling through it.

?Third Earth?

"So Bobby's gone," Mark said. "Back in Solara."

Courtney cried when she heard that. She told Pendragon she couldn't imagine starting a civilization without him.

"But I did hear him and Press talking. I'm not sure if he left of he stayed," Mark said.

After looking around, Mark and Courtney found nothing. Pendragon was gone.

"What do we do now?" Mark asked. "We're 3000 years away from home, Earth isn't the same, and there seems to be huge chaos as Halla is rebuilding."

"We can make things normal," Courtney suggested. "Bobby can help."

"Where is he though?" Mark asked.

Mark and Courtney searched everywhere, looking. There were no flumes, so there could be no way for Bobby to leave.

The thought that Bobby was gone kept Mark up for nights. He almost thought there was another territory.

Impossible. There were only 7 worlds, with 10 territories. Only 10 symbols on the ring.

But the symbols could be worlds.

No sooner did Mark realize this then Courtney knocked on his door.

"What is it?" Mark asked.

Courtney took something out of her jacket pocket. A ring.

Osa, the 1st Traveler from Zadaa, gave Mark the ring the day before Pendragon left. The ring that told them where Bobby was.

Mark waited for a journal to come, but it didn't. But it pointed them somewhere.

Using the ring like a compass, Mark and Courtney found a flume.

"They were all destroyed," Mark said.

"Maybe not all gates were," Courtney suggested.

She then stepped into the flume and said, "Eelong!"

Then the unthinkable happened.

The flume came to life.

Courtney stepped out of the flume, just in time.

"The gate on Eelong got destroyed a while ago," Mark said. "Could a Solara spirit have recreated the flumes?"

The ring began to activate then. The journal. A cylinder came out. It had a button on it.

Courtney pressed it to reveal a holographic journal.

They began to read it, beginning with, "OK, so a bunch of stuff has happened between the beginning of this journal and now…"

Journal #38

Nular

(Continued)

The low notes continued throughout the journey through the flume.

"If there is another territory in Halla, we should have seen it," I said to Press.

"The notes might tell us something. Something bad," Press replied.

"What?"

"Nular isn't in Halla."

"Impossible?"

"What about the letter from Nular? It said so. And we couldn't see Nular from Solara."

The notes got louder as the ride ended.

We were in a building.

"Is Nular Quillan from a different time?" I asked.

The door on the other side of the room said "EXIT" above it. Like the flume had frequent travelers.

On the other side of the door was a long hallway. It had some light, but it was all black. I could see though.

Above the door was a sign that said "FLUME."

"I have a bad feeling about this," I said. "The Convergence could have existed on this late or early Quillan."

"I saw no flume in Nular," Press said.

"We can go back to Solara," I said. "Saint Dane must have created Nular as a Dark Solara remainder. But can we go back to the territories from Solara?"

"I will allow it," Press said.

We went back to the flume gateway room. The flume was still there.

"Earth," I said.

Nothing happened. Suddenly, a horrifying thought hit me. The territories were back, not planets. I shouted, "Third Earth!"

Nothing.

"Veelox!"

Still nothing.

And then a robotic voice said, "Freeze."

Quillan still had dados. And Blok was in control.

Journal #38

Nular

(Continued)

"Dados," I said.

I turned around to face the dados. They probably meant Saint Dane was here.

"Are these the quigs?" I asked Uncle Press.

The dado didn't look like any other dado I saw.

"What Ienru are you from?" The dado asked.

"What do you mean?" Uncle Press asked.

"The Yahnhee want to know," the dado said. "Come with me."

The dado lead us through the building. I thought he, or it, was going to lead us to a city as big and boring as Rune.

He didn't. He led us into an elevator. It had buttons, but it just seemed like Blok's headquarters moved to a city called Nular. But the note. How could the trustees know about Halla?

The elevator stopped and we entered a room.

A bridge led from the elevator to a hemisphere. There were 3 chairs spread evenly across the hemisphere. There were desks, but no materials. I saw that the entire surface of the desks here were screens. What happened to Quillan?

?Third Earth?

"So Bobby's on Quillan, apparently," Mark said.

"But what about the note?" Courtney asked.

"Mr. Kayto," Mark replied. "Saint Dane could have sent it and moved Blok to a city called Nular."

Mark and Courtney knew what they had to do. They stepped into the flume.

"Quillan," Mark shouted.

The flume came to life, but the notes were the same as always. They weren't deep, like Bobby described.

"I just hope the flume will send us to when Saint Dane moves the 'captial'," Mark said.

"Isn't Saint Dane dead?" Courtney asked.

"He might just have traveled. And entrapped part of Dark Solara on Quillan," Mark said. "We'll find out soon."

And they were on their way.

✥Quillan✥

"Think we're in Rune?" Mark asked.

"It's possible," said Courtney. "Unless there's another gate during this time."

"What if there is? In Nular?"

Mark and Courtney took out Journal 24. The first one on Quillan.

"I like to play games…" it began.

"We have to skip past the quigs," Mark said.

"Wait," said Courtney. "There are no quigs here. Saint Dane isn't active."

"What about the city Nular?"

"We could be at a gate in Nular. Let's just follow the directions."

The directions on the path Bobby took did lead Mark and Courtney to an arcade.

"This is Rune," Mark said.

"Hard to tell," Courtney replied. "You want to check out an arcade game?"

In response, someone lost and dados came to take him away.

"Scratch that thought. Let's get out of here."

Mark and Courtney ran out of the arcade, drawing attention. Everyone thought they must be afraid of the dados.

Rune was as boring as Bobby described. It looked like it was still functioning smoothly.

"We have to find the Blok headquarters," Courtney said. "Ask anyone where it is."

"We need to speak to the trustees," Mark said when the person he was talking to ran off. Everyone he asked ran away. Courtney wasn't having much luck.

"Why do you want to know where the trustees are?" someone asked.

"We got lost and needed to talk with them about wagering," Mark lied. "We control betting for the Quillan Games."

"Get in my car," the person said.

The scoots were moving faster than the cars, but Mark and Courtney didn't complain.

"This city is even more boring in real life," Courtney said. "How do people live here?"

"Remember what Saint Dane told Bobby. Blok make everything boring so nobody thought. A piece of steel is interesting."

"Do you think Rune is interesting?" Courtney asked the driver.

"Only recently," the driver said.

"What do you mean?" Mark asked.

"I was a leader in the Revival," he replied.

Journal #38

Nular

(Continued)

"Who are you?" Uncle Press asked.

"We are the Yahnhee," the person in the center said. "The spirits of all Runu."

"Runu?" Uncle Press and I asked.

"You know what Halla is, right?" the person on the left said.

"Yes," I answered.

"Halla is only within a certain time," the person on the right said. "It is a subdivision of Runu. Nular is like the Solara of all Runu. The Yahnha over here is better at explaining. We all have different functions in Nular."

The center Yahnha began explaining, "Nular is the 1st territory in all Runu. The surface eventually became like that of Solara. We decided to create more territories. And subdivisions, called Ienrus, to monitor them. Halla is an Ienru. Each Ienru was monitored by part of Nular. The part of Nular in each Ienru is Solara. A different Solara for each Ienru.

"The spirits of the essences did serve us in monitoring the people. Except for Halla. You guys went rouge. Saint Dane seemed to be faithful-"

"Each Ienru has flumes?" I asked.

"Yes, but 1 of the other spirits destroyed them," the center Yahnha said. "Saint Dane bought them back. He seemed to be loyal to us. But he went rogue too. And now we have to destroy Halla and build the worlds in a different Ienru."

"Us Yahnhee are like gods," the one on the right said. "We can create. This building, covering Nular, is made up of our subordinates, who visit us from the essences. But we hold all the power. We have to make things how they were actually meant to be. We created the flumes to connect each Ienru. Just say the Ienru's name and you're there."

Uncle Press and I ran off, back to the flume. There were signs on each hallway intersection, telling us where vital rooms were. Like the flume.

"The Yahnhee must have controlled the spirits of all other essences," I said. "That's what the gate is for and why it's labeled."

"We have to destroy it," Press said.

"What if that destroys all the Ienrus?"

"The spirits of Solara will help us. We'll get them back."

We arrived at the gate.

"Halla," I shouted.

And we were off. But to what territory?

✥Quillan✥

"The Revival was a while ago?" Mark asked, surprised.

"Yes," the driver said. "I had access to Mr. Pop. I broadcasted images and videos from it all over Quillan. Nevva just took advantage of that."

"Nevva Winter?"

"Yes. She placed a loop there, hidden beneath some books. We didn't know. But everyone lost hope once Mr. Pop was destroyed. I'm barely holding on."

"Are there any remaining Revivers?" Courtney asked. "We could get their help."

"No. They gave up hope. Even in my apartment, which was a headquarters. We're here."

Mark and Courtney got out and the driver said, "I'll be waiting to pick you up. You could end Blok."

The building was filled with the word "Blok." Like people didn't know. It looked like nothing changed.

Inside the chambers, there were very few members in the audience. The podium was there, and a person was on it.

"You do realize that people have stopped buying from Blok," the person on the podium said. "The lack of consumers has decreased our profit margin."

"So you think we're going to let you go?" the trustee on the far right asked. "Why did you receive more goods than you knew you could sell?"

"You didn't think I knew what was going to happen?" he asked. "I expected things to go back to normal. You did too. That's why you kept the quotas the same."

"Are you saying the trustees don't know what's best for Blok?"a trustee in the middle said.

"I would never," he said. "But we couldn't expect the consumer decline. Profit has decreased from last quad by 5%."

"So you confessed to something we know," a trustee said. "But you violated the mandates. Send him to the tarz."

Dados came and dragged him off without any remorse,

"Who are you?" a trustee asked Courtney.

"We work in sector 4-4-2-7 for driving," Courtney answered. "We just wanted to know why you are moving the headquarters of Blok to Nular."

"What's Nular?"

"A city here," Mark said.

"There is no city called Nular," a trustee said. "And a city called Nular would be ruins. You are headed to the tarz too."

Courtney immediately sprung into action. There were 2 dados. Way too easy.

While this was happening, Mark activated the elevator. It arrived at the same time as more dados.

Mark and Courtney rushed through Rune, back to the Reviver.

"You're out early," he said.

"We have to get to the arcade," Courtney said.

"Why there?"

"Just get us there."

The car drove through the streets. And dados followed. Everyone cleared the way,

They were waiting at the arcade. And the chased the acolytes right back to the gate.

"Freeze," a dado said.

"Third Earth!" Mark yelled.

And the flume activated.

Journal #38

Eelong

(Continued)

We ended up in a jungle.

Yes, you heard me right. We ended up in a jungle with tall trees and sky bridges.

"Where are we?" I asked.

And then I got my answer. A tang came out of the trees and attacked us.

We were on Eelong.

Remember Eelong? When the territories got seriously combined and a Traveler died. I was there.

Dodging a tang was easy. I distracted him while Press escaped into the bridges. I then cut a bridge, preventing it from following us.

"Do we go back to Third Earth?" I asked.

"We have to go to Solara and alert the Travelers," he answered. "I'll go back. You stay here. If possible, get the acolytes."

Uncle Press, like all the other Travelers, then disappeared. Back to Solara. I was on my own.

I walked through the sky bridges, heading to Leeandra. As I got closer, the bridges got sturdier and I began seeing more cats. Klees.

But something was wrong.

Leeandra was super close to the gate now. And it was more crowded. Even with klees, forget about the gars who live here, even though I'm pleased to say they weren't treated like animals in this new Eelong.

Some of the klees seemed like soldiers. Serving an advanced army.

A klee saw me and raised his pistol. Yes, klees has pistols here and now. All the others did the same.

I was arrested again.

The klee took us to a building built into the tallest tree in the city. It looked like it was 10 stories high.

A different set of guards inside the building took me to an elevator at the end of the entrance hallway. I thought this was going to be like Blok.

It was much worse.

The elevator did have buttons, but people rarely used it, I was told, because of where it goes. Some rooms even required a code for access. Like where I was headed. My new guards pressed a button, entered a code, and then left.

The doors closed and the elevator went on up. It stopped and the doors opened. Right into a throne room.

There were doors, 1 on the right side and 1 on the left, but the room was empty. Only the klee on the throne and yet more klee guards were there. The room had an orange curtain behind the throne. Machinery was moving stuff around all over the place.

"The Lead Traveler," the klee on the throne said. "Welcome to Eelong."

I'm noting this now because it will come back later, but the klee has blood-red eyes.

"What is this place?" I asked. "And who are you."

"This is an empire that will spread to all Halla," the klee said. "I am Venu, a cat from Second Earth. I belonged to Mark Dimond."

Mark did tell me that his cat was gone. Maybe it was because the Dimonds never got him in the new Second Earth. But it turns out, he flumes away.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Someone named Xen came to me and told me he was a Yahnha. He took me to the flume and sent me to Eelong with some instructions. The plan: get all of Halla under my control. Become Solara spirit. Wipe out history of other spirits and Travelers. Rebuild Halla the way it was meant to be."

"What happened to just destroying Halla?"

"On Nular, the history of each world, each person's genetic data, and more are in the core. To rebuild Halla, you're risking making the worlds not like their old selves. And the Yahnhee rarely control people. So I was created."

"You're going to erase part of history?"

"Would you like to talk with the Yahnhee about it?" Venu asked as a table came to me from the wall. A drink got dropped onto it. "They always hear reports from the spirits of different essences."

"I'll just have to stop you."

"You'll have to alert everyone to the flumes for that to happen. Just like I planned. You're torn."

"Can you at least tell me more about the new Eelong?"

"Sure. When I came here, Ravinia had ended. But the klees still had dominance. Xen told me that I needed to begin a new order. The territories were on a death spiral. I was the one who had the new Eelong planned. Leeandra is so crowded because the tangs have taken most of the wild, so everyone had to move, and most bridges are used for farming. Many klees have became guards or soldiers to stop the tangs from getting to our lands. They also stop the Lalen, the alliance of villages from the north, from invading us. The guards carry eleos, guns that turn high-energy, power collecting crystals into laser bolts. Many flee at the sight of one. I am done here, so I plan to form an alliance with the Zir, the cities that followed my plan, and take off." He then transformed into a human. Yes, he transformed. The human he turned into wasn't anything new. He had a crewcut of brown hair and still wore a black cloak. I noticed beneath the black cloak was a brown one. The eyes were still the same color.

"Halla will rebuild," he said.

"Are you Saint Dane?"

"No. Saint Dane 'died.' He will never return. And I hear Elli Winter bought Nevva back. 21 of you now. Against the supreme being of Halla."

Venu then ordered the guards to send me to Nular. He then left, heading towards the elevator. 2 warriors in red stepped out of it and took me to the gar pens, which were now cells.

As the doors opened, I noticed a warrior with a stave. It had wires running through it. I ran to it and took it. The guard was shocked. The others fired their eleos at me. I blocked with my electric stave. The currents saved it from exploding. I ran at 1 warrior, feeling the other. I cut the eleo in half and then did the same with the other. I then ran back to the flume.

There, I saw someone waiting for me.

Uncle Press.

Journal #38

Veelox

(Continued)

"Eelong has changed," Uncle Press said. "Along with everywhere else. Ignore Veelox."

"What do we do?" I asked.

In response, the flume activated. It kept on dropping off passengers until there were 21 of us. Nevva included.

"There must be a series of turning points per territory," Aja Killian said. "If we target the 2nd row, we can stop Nular. I think I know someone who can help."

"Who?" I asked.

"His name is Kean Zoke. He has an advanced knowledge of all Halla, played a vital role in stopping Ravinia, and has had a fearsome reputation on Ibara and Denduron."

"Do we go to Denduron to find him?" Loor asked.

"No. He's on Veelox. In a jump. We have to convince him to leave."

"Looks like we're heading to Veelox," Alder said.

The flume dropped us off at a gate close to the pyramid. It was like the Yahnhee have wanted everyone to know about the flumes. Then again, I guess everyone being able to travel was how it was meant to be. At least, in the view of the Yahnhee.

We got sterilized and checked by the vedders.

"There is no Kean Zoke on Veelox," a vedder said.

I looked to Patrick. Being from Third Earth, he should know how to find Zoke.

He took out a device and looked around.

"Do you even register your jumpers?" I asked.

"No," Aja answered. "Given how normal Lifelight is, it's not like a Second Earth service."

"Then how can we know if there actually is a Kean Zoke?"

Aja walked into the core. She got onto a computer and downloaded some code. She then looked up, "Kean Zoke."

"NO MATCH," the screen read.

"There is no Kean Zoke," I said.

"But Rellin told me all about him. He told me that he last saw him at the gate, heading for Veelox."

"What if he has his own grid, like Zetlin?"

"I found something," Patrick yelled, pointing at a tile. It had a button that looked like a normal tile in that tile. The huge one could fit all 21 of us. And more people.

Patrick pressed the button and the tile descended down a shaft. A red line went down on each corner. Light. I'm noting this because a tile slid out of a wall in the shaft and closed it up.

We landed in a room that looked like a jump cubicle. Except it had a lot of computers. There were 3 discs.

The main jump computer was labeled. On the screen said "BETA GRID: ACTION."

"Zoke has his own grid, and it's on," Aja explained. The core for this grid is in here too. Loor and Pendragon should get him. Everyone else, go to your home territories."

Everyone except Loor, Aja, and me went back up the floating elevator tile. Aja got onto the main jump computer and opened up the 2 side discs. Loor and I knew the drill.

❖Denduron❖

"Looks like there's much more to Nular than we thought," Mark said.

He and Courtney just read the next part of Journal 38. The part with the Yahnhee. And Eelong.

"This is worse than Saint Dane," Courtney replied. "We have to get to Nular and stop the Yahnhee."

"Do we go after Venu?"

"We don't know where he is. I'd say Denduron, but Saint Dane's prophecy might not be true for this force."

"Doesn't hurt to try. Besides, Solara might help the Yahnhee in their goal. Dark Solara would be huge if the Milago and Bedoowan conquered every tribe."

"I guess we're going to Denduron," Courtney said.

She and Mark stepped into the flume. Mark shouted, "Denduron." And the flume activated,

Bobby always described the gate as being at the top of a mountain. Not here. The gate dropped Mark and Courtney off right in the village. It was right in front of them.

The village was now smaller and made up of higher buildings. They all seemed to be organized into districts. People kept on moving on the streets.

"Who do we go to?" Mark asked.

"Alder or Rellin," Courtney answered. "They are high up in this village."

In this new village, canals from the ocean went next to some streets. Some people traveled on these boats because they weren't crowded. There were also gates heading from the canals into buildings. There was a silver tube with holes, with clear tube below.

A Bedoowan knight grabbed Mark and asked, "Where are you from."

"A faraway tribe in Nodd," Mark lied. "We came here for the Tak. We are from the Yankees tribe, which is at war with others. Even though we need each other."

"I mean what territory?" the knight asked. "Yankees seems like something from Second Earth."

Mark and Courtney looked at each other. How could the knight know about territories?

"You don't know about the flumes? Everyone can use the flumes," the knight explained. "This has stopped a series of deadly mistakes which our chief, Alder, says would have made Denduron a deadly place."

Alder. The Traveler from Denduron. If anybody knew what was going on, it was him.

"What's with the tubes?" Mark asked.

"The silver ones are used to broadcast announcements. The clear ones have triptyte, the material for light, which runs through them at night."

A drum began to bang, and everyone walked to a certain destination. It seemed the bang was coming from the tubes, because it was amplified.

"Is this another Transfer?" Courtney asked.

"I told you, this is a different Denduron," the knight said. "This is just a simple game of Kuno."

A huge colosseum was in the center of a district that seemed to be like the downtown. Milago farmers were selling their crops at the entrances. A huge sign read KUNO TICKETS: 1 QUILL.

The game began when 4 Bedoowan knights, Alder being 1 of them, marched onto a huge circle in the center of the arena. The platform rose up, and sticks appeared on the edges.

"Wagering is now closed," a Milago in a booth yelled. "The game is about to begin"

The drum banged, and the knights began to take the sticks. A smaller drum was being used to count seconds.

"Sonwa warriors!" Someone yelled, pointing to a bunch of warriors at the stadium.

Ready to attack.

Journal #38

Veelox

(Continued)

When Loor and I entered the jump (yes, it was his), we ended up next to a river.

I noticed another river farther down. There were a lot of rivers.

Behind us, a device collecting water from a river watered the plants. At precisely the right moment. A person checked a field with a screen.

"Where's Kean Zoke?" Loor asked.

"Why are you looking for Kean Zoke here? Zoke would ever come to this world. It is just used for farming," the person replied. "He's in The Edifice on Zenel."

"Can you get us to Zenel?" I asked.

"Look to your left," she said.

Loor and I looked and saw a small village. With a spaceport.

"Take a shuttle to Zenel. The shuttles usually go to the most important cities on planets. Sha City, where The Edifice is located, is the most vital city on Zenel."

"Zoke must have a wild imagination," I said.

Loor and I got on the shuttle and it took off.

From space, the world where we arrived was green, covered with blue stripes. There were hurricanes on the north pole and a huge ocean in the south pole.

Zenel was another story. It was mostly city. I feared we wouldn't be able to tell where Sha City was. Shuttles kept arriving and leaving the city.

On the surface, the buildings were high. They all had different designs, but they were still super tall, reaching up to an orange, bright sky, which was probably light made by the buildings. On the ground, the streets were busy. There were a lot of hovering cars, which seemed to be moving fast. Unlike on Quillan, very few people were walking. Whenever I saw a hovering bus, it was filled, making the buses seem popular. At intersections, I saw entrances to the parking garage under the city at every corner. They even had their own holographic traffic light. Speaking of which, a holographic light flashed above the street, huge to get noticed. Traffic moved when it was blue. It stopped when the light was green. Same for the pedestrians. Below the light was the name of the street. I saw roads labeled 29 AVE, MINER LN and DESTRUCTION ST. I saw landing pads for ships all over on buildings marked "TRADE." The buildings for stores said the name of the store. Below that, it said what you could buy there. Like for example, "ABDU'S GRANDEST" and "FURNITURE, DECORATIONS, TOOLS" below. The font was usually the same. It was always the same for what you could buy. However, 1 building had a different font. The sign was a huge hologram at the end of a 2-way road. The sign said, "THE EDIFICE." The 2-way road was pretty crowded. I saw it was labeled, "CURRENT BVLD," which I'm only pointing out because it was filled with traffic. It probably linked Sha City to other cities here.

Inside the Edifice was a room. A person in full-on armor was behind a booth.

"Name, company, sector," the person behind the booth said.

"We're not from here," Loor said.

"Are you extra jumpers from Lifelight?"

"How did you know?" I asked.

"Zoke has a code to let him know whenever someone visits his jump," the guard explained. "I get that info too." Now, step through the light.

Next to the booth was light for a quick distance. It was all over. We walked through, and the guard's screen came up green. After the light was another window.

"Do you want an escort to Zoke?" the guard asked.

A person came. He wore a dark green shirt with black pants.

"I'm here to take you to Zoke," he explained. Loor and I followed him down the hallway. There were doors leading off of it. Until this hallway ended at a door, leading to another hallway.

At the other side were elevators. But not like on Second Earth. Inside the elevator was a keypad below a small screen. The guy typed 22 and a hologram came up, detailing what was on that floor.

There was a button below the keypad. The guy explained what it was for. You pressed it and said where you wanted to go. The elevator then took you to the floor where that place was and a voice directed you there.

On floor 22, the guy took us to a room labeled SUPREME TECH CONTROLS and opened the door.

Inside was a room that looked like the core Everyone was on computers. They all looked like our escort, except they wore dark blue instead of dark green.

1 person wore a black shirt with some gray pants. He was at a computer with someone else, looking at what appeared to be plans for a space station.

He turned to face us and said, "What are you doing here?"

"We're visiting your jump-" I said.

"I know that," the person interrupted. "I want to know why."

"I'll sum up. The Yahnhee of this essence of a bunch of Hallas want to change Halla's history. Unlike the way _we_ think it was meant to be. We were told Kean Zoke could help us. But he's in this jump."

"Change the reader," the man ordered the computer person. He then took us to a room next to this one. It was an office.

"I am Kean Zoke," he said. "Now who are you?"

Journal #38

Veelox

(Continued)

"We are the Travelers," I explained. "I am Pendragon from Second Earth, and this is Loor from Zadaa."

"What do you want with me?" Zoke asked as he got onto his computer.

"We think your intellect could help," a voice said. Aja had joined us. "Look at what you've done to all Halla. We need you."

Zoke pressed some buttons and a door opened. It led to a living room. He walked into it and motioned for us to follow. The door closed behind us.

"How can I help. I'm not a Traveler. Well, I am in a way."

"Explain," Loor said.

"You know how you were created to be Travelers. I was too, along with Venu. By the Yahnhee. To take control. I defected from them just as Nevva Winter defected from you. I continued the plan, but for a different reason. History has to run its course. We have to keep things as they are now."

Zoke went to 1 of 5 TVs there and took out a video game controller.

And then things went black.

I got pulled out, only to see Venu standing in front of me. Same with Loor. Venu looked like the human I saw him turn into back on Eelong.

"Welcome, welcome, welcome," he said. "I hope you enjoyed Zoke's jump. I almost considered keeping you there."

"Why didn't you?" Loor asked.

"The Yahnhee have decided to let you join us in the new Solara. It will be before Saint Dane. You have proven yourself worthy."

"Is this like Ravinia?" I asked.

"No," Venu answered. "I'll explain. You know about Third Earth, right? The Merging will be similar. But there will be no worthy people. Society will be kept normal. Just with the ability to visit other territories."

I left the Beta Core, heading for the elevator. For the gate.

I had to get to a first-generation Traveler. I needed answers.

"You need Tiltion, I believe," Venu said. He then took out his Traveler ring and put it in a disc. He got onto the computer with the tray, and a hologram of Uncle Press came up.

"Hello, Bobby," Uncle Press said. "Second Earth is safe and everything is returning to normal on Third Earth."

"Is it true?" I asked. "Did you really violate the way things were meant to be when you destroyed the original flumes?"

"We had to," Press said. "It would have caused chaos if we didn't. Look at Denduron compared to Third Earth."

"In the Yahnhee's defense, there would be only 7 territories. 1 earth. Saint Dane made 3. Same with Veelox," Venu said. "Saint Dane and you violate the way things were meant to be."

"Can you tell us why you destroyed the original flumes?" Loor asked.

"You remember rescuing me on Denduron?" Press asked. "Well, you saw how Kagan and the Milago used the tools Bobby bought from Second Earth. If that happened every day, I didn't have any idea about the chaos it would cause. And Saint Dane showed that there is a lot of chaos."

"And he created Ravinia," I said. "I think we should go back to Nular and see the Yahnhee's plan for Halla."

"First, we have to get Zoke," Loor said. "Venu, get on the computer and bring us back into the jump."

"I never retracted the tables," Venu said. "Just get on and lie down."

I suddenly remembered that Aja was phading for us.

"Where's Aja?" I asked.

"Working in the core," Venu replied. "She is working hard to recreate the Reality Bug, since Saint Dane is gone. So I have to phade for you instead."

Loor and I lied down on the tables and Venu retracted them.

A few seconds later, we were back in Zoke's "living room."

"Where were you?" Zoke asked.

"Venu ended our jump," I answered. "And for some reason, he bought us beck. Maybe he needs you too."

"I'm sure Venu and the Yahnhee are up to something," Zoke said. "Maybe you are too. I needed a break. That's why I'm here."

"But you don't deserve this life right now," I said.

"Would you say that if you were in your own jump?"

Zoke then got onto his control bracelet and pressed a button. He then entered some code on his computer. A second later, everything went black. I was in total darkness.

❖Denduron❖

The Sonwa warriors targeted Alder. And the other 3 on the platform.

"Why do the Sonwa hate us?" Courtney asked.

"Sonwa is the name for a warrior class from another tribe, just as Bedoowan is the name for the knight class of the Milago," the knight answered.

"Which tribe are the Sonwa warriors from?"

"The Lowsee."

The Lowsee were the tribe that controlled the triptyte. And their location enabled them to have great resources, making them a technologically advanced tribe.

"The Lowsee give us Triptyte and technology," the knight explained. "In return, we grow all their food and protect them from the tribes of Galla. We have the tak. You can't get that in the Loom Mountains."

"So why are there tensions?"

"Galla hasn't invaded in many months. The Lowsee feel the alliance isn't needed."

Meanwhile, many of the spectators ran. Except the Bedoowan.

"Stop them," Alder ordered.

4 Bedoowan knights began throwing Tak bricks at the Sonwa warriors. Others charged at the Sonwa guards with their staves.

The Sonwa had staves made out of a really hot material called wola. The intensity of the wola staves amplified the tak explosions.

The lead Sonwa threw his stave directly at the entrance to 1 of the tak mines scattered through the village.

"Get the stave!" Alder ordered.

Graviot ran to the tak mine shaft to collapse it and prevent the village from exploding. He did so by doing something very ironic.

Throwing a tak brick at the stave.

If the brick hit the mine and missed, the village would have been destroyed. And if it hit a rock, the stave would have destroyed the village.

Graviot hit a rock at the entrance. The entrance began to collapse, with the stave under the rocks, gone.

"That's that," Alder said.

And then there was a huge earthquake. Buildings collapsed.

"We're not done," Graviot said.

Journal #38

Veelox

(Continued)

"Do I have to tell you to get up again?" a familiar voice asked.

I opened my eyes and looked around. It was my room. At 2 Linden Place. On Second Earth. Again.

"The finals are in 30 minutes," the voice of my mother said.

I walked around my bedroom, heading to the kitchen. Sure enough, my family was there. And Mark.

"I got a Pizza from Domino's," Mark said. This was great.

But I had to get back to Zoke.

As much as I wanted to stay here, I had to get to Zoke.

So I pushed the left button.

"I heard about the situation," Venu said. "Zoke is really a genius."

"What happened?" I asked.

"Zoke activated his crossover program and entered commands to affect the jump. That's why you and Loor got rerouted to your own fantasies. Zoke made sure Lifelight gave you what you wanted without focusing your thoughts as part of the monitor code."

"Can you get me and Loor back to The Edifice?"

"Think of it and press the center button," Venu ordered. "I have to go and tell Loor the same thing."

"Can I trust you?"

"If Zoke is there."

I thought of it and pressed the button. And my family was gone. I was in a room filled with machinery. Buttons, switches, and screens were everywhere. A table in front of me was filled with controls.

"Are we still in The Edifice?" a voice asked. Loor was there too.

"I thought about it," I said. "Maybe Venu just gave us our own Edifice design."

"There you are," a voice said. "Welcome back."

Loor and I turned around to see Kean Zoke. A hologram from his bracelet apparently tracked our location.

"I thought you would like your own fantasies," Zoke said. "After all, when you were first introduced to Lifelight, you didn't want to leave."

"But then, there wasn't a goal. Why are you even in here?"

"To escape from being a Traveler. Like you, I wanted a normal life."

Zoke went up to the table, pressed a few buttons, and then left. Loor and I followed.

"I was originally from Denduron," Zoke said. "A member of the Zhuwan tribe. The Zhuwan are devoted to technology. I was taken from my family and raised as a Sallar. The Sallars govern Zhuwan lands. But my life as a trainee was hard. You've heard of what being a phader here on Veelox is like?"

"I have," I answered. "It seems hard."

"Training to be a Sallar is very similar. When Venu showed me the gate and the other worlds, I saw an opportunity to get a better life. I visited each territory, but they all seemed to be in despair. I did what I could to help them. And then I found Veelox. It hasn't fallen yet. And it had what I needed. A normal life. That's what this is. All the way."

"You mean, like Dr. Zetlin's fantasy?" Loor asked.

"Yes," Zoke answered. "Except, with a few differences."

Zoke took us back into his office, through the door into his living space.

"The Edifice is where I live and work," Zoke explained. "The city outside exists because there has to be a city, not like with Zetlin. Even though I rarely leave The Edifice. Want to play Akran?"

"We're not here to play games," Loor said. "With Zetlin, we had to play to meet him, but you're here. Now, we need you out of Lifelight."

"But why exactly would I go back?"

"We have a slight problem," Venu said.

"What is it?" Loor asked. "Another Reality Bug?"

"No," Venu answered.

"Did the Yahnhee finish their plan?" I asked. "I'm beginning to think we should side with them."

"Actually, Veego and LaBerge are now here," Venu said.

Veego and LaBerge used to be phaders here on Veelox. But Saint Dane found them and sent them to Quillan to run the games for Blok.

"Well, well, well," Veego said. "Challenger Red, what are you doing here?"

"That's what I should be asking you."

"The trustees have demanded we get some new games. So we flumed here to look for ideas. Nothing. But then you found a isolated jump. So we came here to see what games you had."

"I don't think you will," Zoke said as he got in his office computer.

"And why not?" LaBerge asked.

"I'm changing the key," Zoke said. He then entered the code on his computer. Nothing happened.

"What did you do?" Loor asked.

"This jump sends messages to the phading computer," Zoke explained. "Each action in the jump is written in letters, like binary. The letters are then encrypted. There are multiple keys that decode or encode the jump. Only 1 key can be used, and very few know the codes to actually the key. Veego and LaBerge can't enter the code cause they don't know it, so the computer screen is showing something way different than what's happening right now, since the key changes the encryption without the code."

"Why do you do this?" Loor asked.

"To prevent anyone who I don't trust from seeing what happens. I have a self-phading program that does the work." Zoke then pulled up a maze of electronics with people very nervous in it. They kept on crashing into the walls, machines, holograms, or each other. "This is what Veego and LaBerge are seeing," he explained. "And with that problem solved, I still see no excuse to leave. I have a good life here."

I got worried that this would be like convincing Zetlin to leave Lifelight. I wish I had my journal #17.

Maybe I did. I thought of it and pressed the center button.

The player appeared and my hologram appeared. "We were good to go," my hologram said.

I flash forwarded to the Barbican. I checked out what I said, and decided to reword it.

"But what about everywhere else?" I asked. "You are a Traveler. It is your job."

"I was created for the Yahnhee," Zoke said. "Venu and I split up. I worked hard to save some territories. Look at Denduron, and Eelong. Even with their flaws, they are better. I think I deserve this."

"But we're not done. I'm thinking about joining the Yahnhee too. It is the way it was meant to be. But I have actual friends. Unlike you, who lives in Lifelight. Instead of making your actual life better."

"But actual people leave you. There's no guarantee they will be your friends for life. Here, there is."

"Because you created them. They will do whatever you want because that's the way you want it to be. And you have neglected Halla when it needs you most. You could have an actual life, not a fake one. Help us rebuild Halla."

"That's it," Zoke said, and he pushed a button. Everything went black. A second later, we came out of the jump. Venu was phading, and Veego and LaBerge were gone.

"I got rid of them," Venu said. "Sent them up to the core and had a director talk with them about taking them offline. It seems Zoke ended his jump too."

In response, the middle disc slid to the right. To reveal another disc that slid up. Then a disc slid to the left. Then one slid down. The 5th moved out, attached to the bed that the actual Zoke was on.

Zoke was in reality.

"Nice job," a voice said. Alder.

"I checked Denduron," he said. "It seems the Yahnhee have affected Halla already, and it seems better now."

"I'm with Alder," Siry said. "I say all that's left to save Halla is join them." He then disappeared.

"Will there be a Saint Dane?" Press asked.

"No," Venu answered. He then disappeared. Everyone did. Halla was different.

End Of Journal #38


End file.
